


judgment day

by WelcomeToTheBadlands



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Battle, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, One Shot, Part of a Twitter Fic, Swords, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:36:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24600130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelcomeToTheBadlands/pseuds/WelcomeToTheBadlands
Summary: this is part of I Did Something Bad, a text fic on twitter. Please read the text fic first to get the context.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	judgment day

**Author's Note:**

> love will have it's sacrifices

“Okay,” He told himself that Rey could fend for herself. She knew how to fight. He turned and started assigning duties. He had to be reassuring, a good leader, he wasn’t sure that he could do that. But he remembered that both his grandmother and mother were in leadership positions. Both with activist groups and in the Senate.

Everything seemed to go pretty fast after that.

Ben’s heart was beating hard in his chest as they descended on the pit, following the bright beam of light in the sky and tens of kids that were standing there, entranced by it.

“Let the final chapter begin,” He held an old man roar, and the people entranced by the light jeered in harmony. There was as specific way that everyone was spread out, making sure that they didn’t lose the element of surprise. Ben knew there were more vampires in the crowd, but he also knew something that a lot of them didn’t. Rey had told him once about wards that kept vampires from being able to smell regular humans.

He knew that this would be imperative in their strategy, and so far it was working. They were able to line the buildings and wait to inch closer and closer into the crowd. At first it seemed like they would be successful in the element of surprise, but then Ben heard a wailing noise, and his sword started to glow. There were people staring at him with the worst and most malicious hate that he had ever seen in his life in their eyes. Someone lunged, and Ben had no choice but to protect himself.

Everything turned into an all-out brawl, the original plan was abandoned, and all of a sudden the demon of the light was forgotten for the moment.

**

A loud screech was emitted from the air. Rey was face to face with another vampire. Not her mother, but one of her cronies. “Bazine?” Rey said.

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Bazine rolled her eyes.

“Cut the pleasantries, darling.”

“Do we really have to do this?” Rey asked. “I’m not here to kill you. I’m here to kill my mother,”

“Your mother has always treated you as a favorite when all you do is conspire against her in weak and pathetic ways, you are no daughter to her—”

“Yeah, that’s the point,” Rey said. “Are you going to get out of the way or not?” She got her answer when Bazine lunged at her with a fury that she had never seen before. Rey had the advantage, obviously. She had a sword in her hands and Bazine had nothing, but while she had her hand protecting in cloth, the sword did nothing but graze her. She felt her stomach drop, and she knew what she had to do.

She let the cloth go and wielded the sword.

There were very few times in life that someone experienced a taste of real power. Some people never got to experience that feeling, of being powerful. Wielding that sword sent energy running through her veins in a way that she had never experienced before, and she liked it. She ran Bazine through with an ease that was almost frightening, and from there she continued her warpath. But she wasn’t angry like she had been before. She wasn’t scared. At that moment as a storm brewed overhead, and things were on fire all around them, she felt a peaceful clarity that she had never felt before. In that clarity, she saw Ben. He was in the middle of battle too, leading people with an assertiveness that she had never seen in him before.

He saw her too, and both of them smiled at each other and nodded. Like they knew what was going to happen now. Ben was across the battlefield from Rey, separated by sections of Chandrila’s big old walls. Ben started clearing his way towards her.

Rey would have helped, but her attention soon became divided by something else.

Her mother.

Rey had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and in all of the ways it played out in her head, she wasn’t sure how she would actually feel in this moment. Her mother looked almost pitiful, imperfect in a way that Rey had never seen her before. She watched as she coughed and then looked straight up at Rey. “What the hell?” She screamed at her, “What the hell have you done? You have ruined everything. And I trusted you so dearly.”

“Weren’t you the one that told me that you should never be weak enough to trust another person?” Rey said. “It’s your own fault that you didn’t follow your rules.” The energy within her was surging, begging to be let loose to consume more things. Rey held her resolve. The demon of the light groaned in the background.

“You are such an utter disappointment; I shouldn’t even call you my daughter.”

“As are you,” Rey told her, “I should’ve never called you my mother.”

**

Ben was met with his own challenges when he was headed for Rey. He felt this newfound energy surge through him in a way that he had never felt before, but he was stopped by this invisible wall that seemed to be moving nowhere. His airway restricted itself and all of a sudden he felt so, so small, as he looked into the golden eyes of Palpatine. A vampire he had never been faced to face with. He was frozen with a paralyzing fear that he had never felt before as this thing in front of him looked no longer like a man, and more like a creature that had been lurking in a darkness far too long, stewing in his own hate. He did not open his mouth.

He did not speak. He did not move. He just stood there, eyes boring holes into Ben. And then a grating voice spoke. “So you are the descendant of the monster hunter, Anakin Skywalker. Interesting, you look rather uninteresting to me.” Ben was not able to speak or defend himself.

He couldn’t do anything.

He was powerless.

“I think that I would like to have a lot of fun, making sure that you rot in hell.” He said. It was clear that he wanted to intimidate Ben. That’s what all of these creatures banked on. Intimidation. Guaranteeing that you were afraid to die. The malicious intent behind their eyes was evident in some cases.

Ben told himself that he could not let this creature intimidate him. He needed to relax. “Think all you want that you will get out of this situation, your naïve nature is amusing at best, but times dull.” Palpatine tells him. Ben gripped his sword even tighter. Trying to move his muscles.

He was still too tense.

He was still scared out of his mind.

“You are going to die, boy. You are going to die and so is everyone else here, they will be a sacrifice to the Great One and this will all be for not. I will make sure you watch as your lovely little harlot Rey is eaten alive by a demon, do you understand me?” He should not have said that.

That clarity that Ben had before came back into his head. That feeling he got where he knew that Rey could handle herself, and she was going to be fine. Blue energy crackled to life in the sword, much like the power that was emanating from Ben, and he felt himself being able to breathe again. 

“You’re wrong,” Ben said.

**

Rey’s mother had lunged at her, and for a moment, Rey wasn’t sure that she was going to win. Her mother had attacked her before, but not with the same ferocity that she did now. This was different. This was feral. She sunk her claws into Rey in a way that told her that she had never once given a damn about her. All she wanted was power, and someone that she could talk down to. Rey’s mother had knocked the sword from her hands and Rey felt her energy start to drain, and she coughed up blood.

Something that she had not done in a very long time.

She sunk her claws into Rey in a way that told her that she had never once given a damn about her. All she wanted was power, and someone that she could talk down to. Rey’s mother had knocked the sword from her hands and Rey felt her energy start to drain, and she coughed up blood.

Something that she had not done in a very long time.

That anger was back.

That fear was back.

She felt defenseless.

Like she did as a child.

She felt like she was going to die.

Before, she would’ve just accepted this. She would’ve told herself that she had lived this long, and it was the natural order of things for her to sink into oblivion and never be heard from again.

That was before Ben. Instead her life flashing before her eyes, she thought of what she wanted to do. She thought of how she had always dreamed of having a wedding and settling down somewhere quiet, how she had wanted to do something other than go to college for eternity. She thought of going back to Russia, with Ben and tow, and maybe in the future, if nature allowed it, a child.

She wanted all of that.

She was allowed all of that.

And so much more.

And she was going to have it.

She was not going to die.

Rey got back up.

She spat the blood pooling in her mouth out, and she scrambled for the sword. She grabbed it again and felt that power again, and she fought with that same ferocity that her mother had just shown her. She would not be beaten down. She would not be made to feel less than. “You’re wrong.” There were no heroic speeches. No victorious poses, they fought until they reached the edge of the pit and the light was so blinding, and that was when Rey struck the killing blow. “I made me.” 

She sunk the blade into her mother’s core and twisted, pulling up. She wanted to make sure that her mother saw the satisfaction in her face. She wanted to make sure that her mother knew that she had no regret in doing this. Her mother clawed at her and Rey knew what she had to do.

She knew what had to happen next. 

She jumped in the pit.

**

Ben wanted to wrap his head around how arduous the battle was. But he couldn’t really. He and Rey killed Palpatine and her mother at the exact same time. Ben wondered if there was some sort of magic in the swords that allowed them to do that, or if it was something else.

He would never get to ask Rey though.

Because when the battle was done and everyone was left to pick up the pieces, the pit was left in ruins and the demon was gone, and she was nowhere to be found. He found Kaydel sobbing at the corner of the pit, holding a torn piece of Rey’s jacket, and he felt like he was going to throw up. “Where is she?”

She was supposed to be here.

She was supposed to be okay.

There was a pile of rubble, but she wasn’t here. Palpatine and her mother were gone, but she wasn’t here. Kaydel was sobbing.

Did she see Rey die?

Ben couldn’t bring himself to ask.

Ben felt like he was going to vomit, but before he could start, Djin ran straight into the pit. He didn’t say anything, he just started going through the rubble like a madman on a mission. Ben didn’t know what to do at that point. What was he supposed to do? He walked forward, intending on meeting him in the depths to help look for her when Poe held him back.

Ben was trying so hard not to cry at that point.

He almost broke in Poe’s arms, but he couldn’t. He needed to find Rey. “Ben,” Poe said, “we don’t know if she’s dead.”

“But what if—”

“Ben,” Poe told him again, he looked so tired. More tired than Ben had ever seen him in his life. Finally Ben broke free and started clambering down to where Djin was. It was a lot harder than he expected. His lungs hurt and he felt like he might’ve broken or at least sprained something, but that was all a second thought as tears started to stream down his face.

He wanted Rey.

Eventually Djin threw a boulder haphazardly and found her, laying there. She was so still, Ben was going to cry. “Let me see her. Please, let me see her.” Ben took Rey in his arms and held her for a second, feeling hopeless as he looked down at her limp body. He brought her close to him with tears in his eyes and felt like he was going to lose all hope.

And then he heard it.

A breath.

A flicker of hope.

It took everything to get back up to the ground, but he was screaming that she was still alive. There was still a chance.

There was still hope. Kaydel stopped crying and was suddenly barking that she was going to need blood and Poe said that he would do it.

Kaydel instructed Ben to lay Rey down and he did reluctantly, and Poe sliced his palm and let his blood trickle into Rey’s mouth.

For a second nothing happened.

And Ben got nervous.

What if she didn’t get better?

What if this was the end?

And then she sprang upright.

**

Rey had assumed that as a vampire, she would never see the afterlife. Yet she was there, in some sort of limbo. She was sitting there on a bench, not sure what to do, and then he came and sat next to her. Kylo.

He looked so sad.

But he smiled at her when he sat down and said, “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”

“I—” She didn’t know what to say.

“We don’t have long,” Kylo told her, “but I needed to talk to you.”

“Am I dead?”

“No.” Kylo said. “Not yet. You’re barely holding on. I thought I’d stop you before you passed on to the other side.”

“Why?”

“I needed to apologize,” He said, “I was awful to you, and let my fear guide me when I should not have, and you deserved better than that.”

“I don’t blame you for being scared of me. I was a monster,”

“No,” Kylo shook his head, “you were abused by an awful woman that took your childhood and life from you and didn’t allow you to reclaim it and you were just surviving. And you deserve happiness.” Rey felt like she was going to cry, but she couldn’t. There was this sense of closure that she had never had before. “I am here to also bestow a gift upon you that you’ve earned back, now that you’ve slain a demon and made a world right.” He said. Rey felt lightheaded, and then Kylo said, “Wake up, Rey.”

Rey woke up in Ben’s arms.

And her heart was beating.


End file.
